Guided Path Program Aims To House Austin’s Homeless population Camping Outside The ARCH

AUSTIN, TEXAS – OCT. 30, 2019 – The city of Austin has collaborated with over a dozen local nonprofits to launch Guided Path, a pilot program dedicated to housing the homeless currently camping outside of the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH).

An outreach team is collecting the names of homeless individuals seeking assistance and sending the information to collaborating nonprofits. Participating organizations include Integral Care, Front Steps, ECHO, SAFE Alliance, The Salvation Army and Austin Recovery.

 “The goal is to make a noticeable impact on a really key area so we can demonstrate that we are able to rally around this like a disaster response,” Laura Sovine, executive director of Austin Recovery, said.

Austin Recovery began providing homeless individuals with beds on Oct. 24. “I have a spot for probably 10 at a time in residential treatment,” Sovine said. “If we were to fill up those spaces, then we could potentially make some of our private grant foundation funded beds available. We would do that if we felt that this initiative was really working and people were really going into treatment versus just kind of going somewhere else away from the ARCH.”

It is unclear whether Guided Path will become a permanent program after its initial pilot testing. “What we’re going to try to do on our end is keep the data of how many are referred, how many are actually admitted, and then how many could we accommodate,” Sovine said. “If it’s more than what we can accommodate, [we will be] able to give that information back to local government and make recommendations around further investments.”

Heidi Sloan, director of Genesis Gardens at Mobile Loaves and Fishes, said she hopes the Guided Path program will provide homeless individuals with the resources they need in order to successfully stay off the streets.

“We’re talking about public health and public safety,” Sloan said. “The most statistically-proven methods there are things like investing in our clinics, investing in coordinated services, and not investing in things that we know don’t move the needle. Mainly, moving people in and out of the system.”

Sloan is optimistic this program will help break the cycle of Austin’s homelessness crisis. “The longer that people are left without housing, the more traumatic their experience becomes,” Sloan said. “It’s a cumulative effect.”

Guided Path comes as a response to an Austin City Council’s decision to ban camping, sitting, or lying down within 15 feet of a home, business or city-operated emergency shelter. The ordinance went into effect on Oct. 27.

Governor Greg Abbott has ordered the Texas Department of Transportation to clear homeless camps located underneath overpasses on Nov. 4. In a letter to Mayor Steve Adler, he said Austin’s streets are littered with “hypodermic needles, mounds of garbage, and people living in unsanitary and inhumane conditions.”

According to a report from the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, there are a total of 2,255 homeless people living in Austin. This is 108 more people than last year and the highest recorded number since 2011.